Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass eBook

and sixty years of age, uncover his bald head, kneel
down upon the cold, damp ground, and receive upon
his naked and toil-worn shoulders more than thirty
lashes at the time. Colonel Lloyd had three sons—­Edward,
Murray, and Daniel,—­and three sons-in-law,
Mr. Winder, Mr. Nicholson, and Mr. Lowndes. All
of these lived at the Great House Farm, and enjoyed
the luxury of whipping the servants when they pleased,
from old Barney down to William Wilkes, the coach-driver.
I have seen Winder make one of the house-servants
stand off from him a suitable distance to be touched
with the end of his whip, and at every stroke raise
great ridges upon his back.

To describe the wealth of Colonel Lloyd would be almost
equal to describing the riches of Job. He kept
from ten to fifteen house-servants. He was said
to own a thousand slaves, and I think this estimate
quite within the truth. Colonel Lloyd owned so
many that he did not know them when he saw them; nor
did all the slaves of the out-farms know him.
It is reported of him, that, while riding along the
road one day, he met a colored man, and addressed
him in the usual manner of speaking to colored people
on the public highways of the south: “Well,
boy, whom do you belong to?” “To Colonel
Lloyd,” replied the slave. “Well,
does the colonel treat you well?” “No,
sir,” was the ready reply. “What,
does he work you too hard?” “Yes, sir.”
“Well, don’t he give you enough to eat?”
“Yes, sir, he gives me enough, such as it is.”

The colonel, after ascertaining where the slave belonged,
rode on; the man also went on about his business,
not dreaming that he had been conversing with his
master. He thought, said, and heard nothing more
of the matter, until two or three weeks afterwards.
The poor man was then informed by his overseer that,
for having found fault with his master, he was now
to be sold to a Georgia trader. He was immediately
chained and handcuffed; and thus, without a moment’s
warning, he was snatched away, and forever sundered,
from his family and friends, by a hand more unrelenting
than death. This is the penalty of telling the
truth, of telling the simple truth, in answer to a
series of plain questions.

It is partly in consequence of such facts, that slaves,
when inquired of as to their condition and the character
of their masters, almost universally say they are
contented, and that their masters are kind. The
slaveholders have been known to send in spies among
their slaves, to ascertain their views and feelings
in regard to their condition. The frequency of
this has had the effect to establish among the slaves
the maxim, that a still tongue makes a wise head.
They suppress the truth rather than take the consequences
of telling it, and in so doing prove themselves a
part of the human family. If they have any thing
to say of their masters, it is generally in their
masters’ favor, especially when speaking to
an untried man. I have been frequently asked,
when a slave, if I had a kind master, and do not remember